Oil or gas wells are typically drilled to depths of hundreds or thousands of feet. Sections of well pipe are linked together and are lowered into the well. For various reasons, it occasionally becomes necessary to pull the well pipe from the well. This can require large lifting forces since the well pipe can weigh several pounds per foot and hundreds or thousands of feet of pipe must be lifted from the well.
Specialized well servicing rigs have been used for pulling is well pipe. These rigs are generally driven to the well where a derrick on the rig is erected over the well. A winch on the rig is used to pull the well pipe from the well. Workers on an elevated platform on the derrick unhook well pipe from the winch cable and temporarily store the extracted well pipe along side the derrick. Workers on the ground around the well uncouple or separate well pipe sections as they are extracted from the well. Accordingly, the well servicing rig can extract well pipe much more quickly and easily than e.g., a general purpose crane.
The winch or draw works on the well servicing rig is typically powered by the rig's internal combustion engine. Winching accordingly generates substantial exhaust emissions and noise. When working on "town lot" wells, i.e., wells located in or near residential areas, it is especially desireable to reduce noise and emissions from operations at the well site, including pipe extraction operations. In the Southern California area, emissions from oil refineries and oil fields are limited by government regulations. Any increase in emissions generated by expanded operations, etc., must be compensated for by reduced emissions in other areas. Accordingly, there is a need to reduce all emissions associated with oil well operations in Southern California oil fields.